Kobe...What's your opinion now?

[Bandera YaYa]

Well, he admitted to consentual sex...is that the truth or was he just watching out for his backside, knowing they had his DNA??

[Jimbotex40]

i think hes innocent

[Ranger Mom]

I HOPE he is innocent...I have always liked him. I just do not understand the male species, if you have a wife that looks like his..why go elsewhere??

No offense to the majority of men who ARE faithful!!!

[Ranger Mom]

Before I get slammed....I just want to clarify that I don't understand women that do the same thing either!!!

[Bandera YaYa]

They must have some good evidence to charge him. If the evidence is creditable, he's in trouble. I'll be watching and waiting....I just hope the truth comes out, no matter what. What I don't understand is if she just wanted to score with a celebrity, and apparently there was sex, then why would she go running out of the room, upset and crying rape..if she got what she wanted???

[sinton66]

What they said on the six o'clock news here was that the police believed the girl because they couldn't find any history of lying or making false accusations behind her. Obviously, we don't know any of the facts in this case.

I can see where a girl might throw herself on a celebrity and cry rape later. If he is convicted in the criminal trial, a win in a civil lawsuit would be automatic.

On the other hand, he sure wouldn't be the first sports figure to freak out and go off the deep end. We've seen worse. (Remember O.J.?)

<small>[ July 18, 2003, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: sinton66 ]</small>

[Chief Woodman]

Well this is not good no matter the outcome. First lets recall a few basic facts. "Not guilty" does not necessarliy mean "Innocent". Too many folks think that when a person is aquitted it means they did not do the crime. All "Not gulity" means is that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The person may have commited the crime, but it cannot be proven 100%. Even jurors get caught up in if they think the person is guilty, rather than is the case proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That is how sometimes innocent people go to jail.

Our standard of law is quite clear.."beyond a REASONABLE doubt".....and when followed has some consequences that not all of us might like, unless we are the ones on trial. Our forefathers once said that it is better for 100 guilty men go free than for one innocent man to go to jail. While this means that some will get away with commiting crime, it is even worse for someone to spend 10 years in prison when they are innocent.

Here is a true personal story....years ago a teenage girl came to my wife and I telling us she had been raped by a teacher of hers. We of course were terribly upset and reported this to the police. He was arrested and charged. He was found not guilty at the trial, and we thought a great travesty of justice had taken place. After much thought and after laying the emotions aside, I realized that the D.A. had not proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt. A guilty man had went free, but that is one of the prices we pay so that we oursevles are not unjustly imprisioned. Or so I thought.... found out a few years later she had lied, and that they had been having consenual sex for weeks. She drummed up the charges because he tried to break it off. Thus...I am adamit about this...if the Eagle County D.A. cannot prove that he raped her BEYOND a reasonable doubt...he MUST be found NOT GUILTY...(does not mean innocent"!
As to what do I think- did he do it? Any decision made here without the facts would be wrong...I do not know one way or the other.

[Old Tiger]

I think it is a girl just wanting money/publicity kinda like Monica and Bill.

[pirate4state]

I've been debating this topic with friends & family all weekend. Yesterday, I even wondered when we'd hear from someone who didn't/doesn't like this girl. Then I get home and turn on the news & there it is...someone saying she is emotionally unstable & had to be rushed to the hospital b/c of a "pill" overdose!! Then this morning we find out that the person who "leaked" this info used to live with the alleged victim & had recently been asked to leave. And as the media is reporting that her family has been calling their family & friends and asking them NOT to speak to the media, Matt Lauer is interviewing one of her friends! Don't you just love the media?! I'm really surprised that no one (from the media) has taken her name from internet sites (and IT IS out there) and just run with it. Could it be that our media has finally developed some decency? I've said before that I HOPE he DID NOT do this. AND I hope that she is NOT making this up for a quick buck. There are just too many different stories out there, for anyone to ever know what really happened in his room. What I really want to know is WHAT 'hotel business' put her in his room? She is reportedly a conceirge/front desk clerk. AND I CAN NOT believe that the manager of this spa would allow a 19 year old to handle any "business" for an A-lister like Kobe, alone?! We'll all just have to wait & see. frown

[PhiI C]

Hey Chief! Whether it was consenual or not what was a teacher doing having sex with a teenage student? That is very foolish. I know that one of my counselors who was just out of college and met his wife while he was a young school teacher and she was a senior in high school but he waited until she graduated and was of age before he dated her and married her and they are still together and have grandchildren.

[sinton66]

Hey Ya Ya, I hope you're following all of this soap opera. There seem to be all kinds of revelations about his accuser coming to light. Apparently she does have her detractors.

[St. Ivender]

Discrediting the victim is the oldest trick in the book. Kobe's high priced mouth pieces will rip this 19 year old girl to shreds while Kobe and his oh so forgiving wife (my wife wouldn't forgive me but I don't make 50 million dollars a year) sit back and keep raking in the dough. It makes me sick. Even if he's guilty as sin he will walk. If he IS innocent (which by his own admission he is guilty of bad judgement) I wish him Godspeed.

[BULLDOGFAN]

I think he is innocent, but I do beleive that their can be Gentlemen Rapist's...

[Chief Woodman]

Phil- You are right...he was an idiot anyway, just not a rapist. With Kobe the same may be true. No doubt he did something shameful and dispicable (he is married after all), but that in itself does not necessarliy mean he commited a felony. Discrediting the accuser (do not know yet if she is a victim or not) is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Closely related to "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" or falsely punishing another person to cover up ones own choices (can anyone say abortion to cover up a sexual encounter?). Just that with the case I told you folks about and a few other personal lessons learned I am a firm believer that a person must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Even if some guilty walk free, no innocent person should ever spend even one minute in jail.

[sinton66]

We all need to remember that in this country, the burden of "proof" is on the accuser, not the defendant. I seen several threads on other sites where feminazis were saying he should stay in jail until he's "proven innocent". The circumstances of this case appear to be very curious at best. pirate4state elaborated on several things I thought about.As in any other criminal case, we should let Justice do her job.

[Bandera YaYa]

Well, yes it is proving to be very interesting..he said, she said. I DO hope that she is lying, because I cannot imagine anything more horible to have to endure, than the man who raped you being set free. Especially if it is because he had special treatment because of who he is. I also think most men and women have very different opinions about rape.

Anyways, this will be in the limelight for a while. I just hope we will find out the real truth... what bothers me is that we will probably not.

<small>[ July 24, 2003, 05:15 PM: Message edited by: Bandera YaYa ]</small>

[pres. ya ya ya pinky]

There is no such thing as Gentlemens Rapist, explain?